Chapter 2

“You handle her for me today, and I’ll handle… you… tonight.”

Selene gave a fake, breathy gasp. “Kael! It’s the gathering at my parents’ den tonight. What if they hear?”

Kael’s chuckle was darkly intimate. “Let them. Let your sire hear how well his daughter’s Alpha provides. In every way.”

Their crude exchange churned my stomach. Kael told me he had to finalize a treaty with a coastal pack during the Howling Moon, that he’d be away.

I’d been planning my own journey north, so I didn’t question it. Now it was clear. He was playing the dutiful son-in-law for his new lover in her home pack.

If he no longer valued being the Chairman’s son-by-mating, I would grant his wish.

I sent a quick pulse through the pack link to my lawyer. Prepare the documents.

Selene smirked at me.

“My mate is coming.”

“You stay right there. I want you to watch. In these lands, every scrap of prey, every gleam of silver, belongs to my Kael.”

I’d almost forgotten. In five years, with my family’s influence and resources funneled through my silent hands, Kael had risen from a lone Beta to Alpha of the strongest pack in the territory.

To protect his pride, to honor my exile, I’d made myself invisible. A shadow. I never used my true name.

Kael would nuzzle my neck and whisper, “I love how humble you are, my Luna.”

Now, the territory I helped him build was this she-wolf’s playground. And the male who claimed to love humility had bred nothing but arrogance in another.

I wondered if they’d still be smiling when the truth tore their world apart.

My smile was calm. “I’m eagerly waiting.”

My composure infuriated her. Her hand shot out again.

I caught her wrist. My gaze turned glacial, the faintest hint of a dominant growl in my stillness. “I suggest you stay still. If you harm me, not even your precious Alpha will escape the consequences.”

My aura, usually locked down tight, pressed against her for a second. She flinched, uncertainty flashing in her eyes.

A red-haired she-wolf burst in, grabbed a water flask, and threw the contents in my face.

“You threaten the Alpha’s mate? I checked your file! You live in the Old Warrens, den three! What kind of status is that?”

“You even coming here is an insult! Trying to pretty yourself up to snag a better mate? Look at your worn-out pelt. You’re not fit to lick her boots.”

I sighed. Den Three in the Old Warrens was the first home Kael and I built together.

Small, simple, built by his own hands when we had nothing but each other.

We owned lavish dens now, but my heart never left that place. My official den location was still listed there.

Before I could speak, the attendant stammered, “Lady Elara, this… this is our new Head Attendant, Kora. She just arrived today.”

She then turned to Kora. “Head Attendant, Lady Elara is a Diamond-Claw patron. She spends more in a season than…”

Kora was already fetching a fresh drink for Selene. “A season’s spending? That’s less than our Selene’s daily allowance.”

“And you! Do you have rocks for brains? Can’t you tell a high-born from gutter-scrap?”

The attendant shrank back, silenced.